Reports from two passengers on the Oliver have been preserved, but it would be hard to tell that they pertained to the same ship. One telling of the trip says that the first six weeks were satisfactory, but that during the next ten weeks they were tormented by storms and contrary winds. They lost the mast of the ship and the Captain died. Because of the length of time that they were at sea, the food and water had been totally exhausted.
Early in January, the Oliver appeared off the coast of Virginia. It has been more than six months since the passengers had boarded in Rotterdam. At this point they had been without food and water for several days. When the ship was within two hours of Hampton at the mouth of the James River, the passengers grew impatient. They insisted, with a reinforcement by arms, that the Captain anchor and obtain some provisions. A party went ashore and the majority of the crew and passengers remained on the ship.
While the party was ashore, violent winds arose and the ship dragged its anchor until the ship's bottom scraped on the sea floor. Leaks followed and the ship filled with water. Forty to fifty persons were trapped and drowned between the decks. Two ships that lay near the Oliver provided assistance and put many people ashore. The weather was so cold that some people froze to death. An article in the Virginia Gazette newspaper mentioned that there were ninety survivors.
The group that went ashore to find provisions landed on an uninhabited island and they found nothing that would be of any help. When the winds came up, they were trapped on the land and could not take their boat out to the floundering ship. To survive the cold, they built a large bonfire. About two out of three of the passengers that boarded the Oliver in Rotterdam did not survive the trip.
The tradition that Meredith Funderburk relates says that the source of his family was Hans Devauld Vonderburg, who was 14 years old when he sailed. Coming with him was his father and perhaps six brothers and two sisters. Devauld is the only one of the family who survived. It is remembered that three ships left together. Devauld's ship was wrecked off the coast of America, where he was picked up by another ship carrying Germans. He became an indentured servant. Later he met uncles and cousins here who had arrived in Pennsylvania on the ship Thistle in 1738.
The surprising thing about this story is the oral tradition was correct about many of it elements. There is so much that jibes with known historical facts that it must be concluded that the tradition did arise validly and has been preserved essentially correctly. So many traditions get embellished with the passage of time that the source events, if they were true to start with, are lost.
Meredith admits that his faith in the tradition had been weakened, but discovering the story of the Oliver has restored his beliefs.
(19 Sep 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.